What does 44% sugar look like? A 100g (4 oz) serve contains 44g of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of sugar = 5g. So that's almost 9 teaspoons of sugar in that bowl of Froot Loops - ouch! Another way to visualise sugar uses the equivalent number of cubes or sugar sachets - see the great examples at Sugarstacks.

And that Coke or soda your staff grabbed for an energy hit because they skipped breakfast? Work out the sugar content from information on the can, then you know why their energy sags in the afternoon...

Sustaining a passion and lively interest in food is a process. Growing that interest isn't just simply achieved after the first discovery, just as growing healthy eating habits for life isn't achieved after one baking class, or one excursion.

It's all about maintaining the search and discovery for something new, and keeping it fresh, intriguing and entertaining. Kids cooking their own food gives them a sense of ownership over their own actions and body, and clearly demonstrated by the Paddo Public kids who, by devising their own menu, sourcing their own ingredients, then documenting their own process of creating it, they are in control, what they create counts for something. It's not yours, if you don't 'own' the process!

Read the rest of this thoughtful article...

One tactic that could be adapted by restaurateurs, based on a mother's advice: 'Teach your children at an early age to read critically, to look for products with good values in nutrition labels. In breakfast cereal [when at the supermarket] for example, sugar should be below 8 grams per serving, and fiber higher than 3 grams. By getting your children involved in the nutrition hunt, they will be more apt to choose better products together with you.'

The only special treatment my young children get when we walk into a restaurant are the crayons and kiddie menu to doodle on. Why in the world would we punish them with chicken nuggets, hot dog, a reheated pizza, or whatnot, when they can be enjoying the fine Italian/Thai/French/Vietnamese/Californian cuisine that the adults are having?

Read all of this interesting article...

They've now launched a Recipe Contest for chefs and restaurants to develop 'plant-based meals' for use in NY schools. Great idea to bring some restaurant glamour into this. Interesting the focus on non-meat products in recipes - the guidelines listed for the contest are very useful.

We're up against the challenge of blandness - food is now so highly flavoured with salt or sugar (often both) at the expense of its own natural taste, that reducing it makes the food unappetising and liable to be pushed away by young diners.